


Yuletide Blue

by aserenitatum



Series: Unconnected AUs [6]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: F/F, Harry Potter AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-15
Updated: 2018-05-15
Packaged: 2019-05-04 04:56:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14585427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aserenitatum/pseuds/aserenitatum
Summary: “Why haven’t you said yes to any of your invites?” Ashley asks. “Is it because of your girl?”“Aubrey is not ‘my girl’,” Stacie says, uses air quotes. “I don’t even know her that well. I’ve only talked to her like, twice.”“But you’re holding out to go to the Yule Ball with her?” Jessica says, and the words sound more like a statement than a question, which is reinforced when Stacie doesn’t immediately answer.AKA the Hogwarts AU you never knew you needed





	Yuletide Blue

**Author's Note:**

> I... don't even know what happened here.  
> One moment I was looking at an anonymous ask on Tumblr asking about a Harry Potter AU and the next moment this story was written.

“Is it okay if I sit here?” 

The voice is melodic and warm, and when Stacie looks up she freezes. Her gaze travels across unexpected blue silk, up to sparkling hazel eyes and gorgeous blonde hair in a braid that's tucked over one shoulder. The girl has a hesitant smile that falters when Stacie doesn’t answer her and Stacie forcibly snaps herself out of her daze, realises the girl asked a question and proper manners dictate she give an answer.  

“Yeah, uhm—” She clears her throat, shakes her head to clear it. “—of course, have a seat.”  

The girl smiles then, gracefully slides onto the seat opposite of Stacie and starts unpacking study materials from her clutch. Stacie watches with growing eyes as she stacks books one on top of the other, creates a small tower of them before unpacking a few pens and a notepad.  

“You have pens?” Stacie asks, distracted by the item.  

The girl frowns, looks down at the pen she's holding and back up at Stacie. “Yes, why?”  

“We’re not allowed to have them on school grounds.”  

“That’s archaic,” the girl says with a laugh, then pulls a book from her tower and flips through it, starts reading it.  

Stacie is completely distracted all afternoon, has to force herself to focus on her Potions homework even though it’s her favourite subject. She can’t stop looking at the blonde girl in front of her, whose attention to her books is truly amazing, and Stacie has to convince herself it would be rude to leave even though she doesn’t even know the girl’s name.  

Torturous hours later, when Stacie's Potions homework is done and not much else, the girl starts silently packing her things back into her small bag. 

Stacie tries to pretend to be paying attention to her textbook, doesn’t want to make this weird by staring at the girl, so she misses the way the girl stares at her for a few moments with a soft smile, regarding her closely.  

“Bye,” she says softly and by the time Stacie lifts her head to reply, the girl is gone.  

Stacie frowns in disappointment, sighs dejectedly at her own awkwardness around this girl before being filled with relief because she can finally focus now. As her gaze travels around the library and back down to her book, she notices a spot of blue on the table and her eyes zero in on the item and she can’t help but smile widely.  

The girl left her a pen.  

 

* * *

 

“I have a question,” Beca says loudly over the sound of the dining hall. The girls all turn to her, and when Stacie gives her a look to continue, she blushes a little. “How closed is this little group of ours?” 

“What do you mean?” Ashley asks, looks up from where she’s polishing her broomstick.  

“I mean, we have Amy here so it’s not very exclusive,” Beca says, and the Australian looks at her, affronted.  

“Hey now, I am just as American as you all are!” she points out and they all look at her in disbelief. “… as much as I am Tasmanian.”  

Jessica nods, pats Amy’s shoulder reassuringly. “We don’t mind having you here, Amy.”  

“And I did live in America for a long time,” Amy points out petulantly.  

“It’s the only reason you’re here, Ames,” Beca teases but she winks and Amy traces an invisible heart across her chest in response.  

“We’ve gone off on a tangent,” Stacie points out lazily, looks up briefly from Jessica’s left hand. “Ravenclaw blue?”  

“Don’t you dare,” Jessica warns, but Stacie flicks her wand and suddenly the blonde's nails are blue with a stripe of gold and Jessica pulls her hand back with an affronted gasp. “Stacie! Change it back!”  

“Fine,” Stacie begrudgingly answers, and with a flick of her wand, Jessica’s fingernails are back to her previously clear nailpolish.  

“With Durmstrang and Beauxbatons here, do we extend our little social circle?” Beca asks, and Ashley watches her closely, narrows her eyes at the shorter girl.  

“What makes you ask that?” Ashley asks and Beca honest-to-god blushes and Ashley grins widely.  

Jessica looks at her girlfriend and follows her excited gaze to Beca, who’s pretending to suddenly be busy with her yellow scarf.  

“Who is it? Is it a boy? We could use more boys here,” Amy pipes up but the others all grimace.  

“It’s a girl,” Beca admits and they all zero in on her.  

“Do you have a crush?” Ashley prods excitedly.  

“No,” Beca says, but her red cheeks contradict her.  

“Who is she?” Stacie presses.  

“Chloe.”  

“Chloe, as in the Durmstrang Champion Chloe Beale?” Jessica asks loudly and Beca immediately shushes her.  

“Keep your voice down!” Beca says in a shrill, panicky voice, looks around the hall to make sure they haven’t caught anybody’s attention.  

“You have a crush on Chloe Beale?” Ashley whispers and Beca doesn’t answer but the red on her cheek deepens.  

“There’s also an American girl at Beauxbatons,” Stacie drops casually.  

“Really?” Jessica asks.  

Stacie nods, then frowns. “At least, she sounds like she is.”  

“You’re not sure?” Beca asks, happy that the heat is temporarily off her.  

“I don’t even know her name, but she has an American accent,” Stacie says with a shrug.  

“Classic Stacie,” Amy says, shaking her head but sounding proud. “Gets the girl and doesn’t even know her name. Up top!”  

Stacie grabs Amy’s wrist and brings down the hand she’d had held up for a high five, shakes her head.  

“It’s not like that. She sat at my table at the library,” Stacie explains quickly.  

“You don’t even let us sit at your library table,” Jessica points out and the other girls nod in agreement.  

“Because all you four do is talk and chatter and when I’m at the library it’s because I need to focus,” Stacie says quickly, flicks at Jessica’s red and golden scarf.  

“So why were you talking to American Beauxbatons girl then?” Ashley says smugly.  

“She asked to sit down, I said yes,” Stacie says, stares at Ashley but the girl drops the issue and then the others do as well.  

“So Beca,” Amy says. “Tell us more about Chloe.”  

The girl groans and drops her face into her hands as the others all laugh.  

 

* * *

 

“Is something wrong?”  

The girl is suddenly looking at her and Stacie realises she’s been caught staring. There’s no particular reason that this girl should stand out or have such an effect on her — all of the Beauxbatons girls are stunning — but Stacie can’t seem to take her eyes off this specific blonde, and it doesn’t help that she’s become a permanent fixture in the library, and more specifically at Stacie’s table.  

“No,” Stacie says, but she doesn’t sound too sure and a small smile tugs at the blonde girl’s lips.  

“You’ve been staring at me for hours,” the girl points out and Stacie’s eyes go wide with panic.  

She didn’t think the girl had noticed, having been so focused on her schoolwork but clearly Stacie hadn’t been as subtle as she thought.  

“You haven’t flipped a page in over an hour,” she points out and it makes Stacie’s brow furrow.  

How could the girl possibly know that?  

_Unless._

“You’ve been watching me?” Stacie asks, grins when a small blush appears on the blonde’s cheeks.  

“I’ve been studying,” she says, gestures to the books in front of her.  

“The books or me?” Stacie teases and the girl looks at her with fond exasperation.  

“I can sit somewhere else if I’m distracting you,” the girl offers, reaches out to close her books but Stacie’s hand shoots out, fingers wrapping around the girl’s wrist to stop her.  

“No!”  

Madam Pince glances over at them with a stern look and Stacie drops the girl’s wrist.  

“Sorry,” Stacie whispers quickly. “Stay, please, it’s fine.”  

The girl hesitates but acquiesces, opens her book again and clicks her pen. “I don’t want to distract you from your schoolwork.”  

Stacie shrugs, gestures to her books. “It’s all extra stuff anyway.”  

“Blue,” the girl says then, points at Stacie’s tie. “That’s the smart house, right?”  

“Ravenclaw,” Stacie says with pride. “Do you guys have houses?”  

“No,” the girl says, shakes her head before smiling coyly. “We’re all smart.”  

“That’s…” Stacie shakes her head, can’t help but smile. “Funny. You’re funny.”  

Her words break the tension a little bit, and when they return to their respective books, Stacie finds that she can focus a lot better now. She gets through a mountain of schoolwork, only glancing up occasionally at the blonde girl in front of her.  

There’s a soft, tired sigh and then the girl is packing up her books again. Her chair scrapes back as she stands up, and Stacie doesn’t dare look up for fear of getting caught staring again so she’s not sure what the girl is doing.  

“Aubrey,” the girl says and Stacie’s startled out of her thoughts, looks up to find the girl holding her clutch and staring straight at her.  

“What?”  

“My name is Aubrey,” the girl repeats, smiles coyly as she holds out her hand and it takes Stacie way too long to understand what’s happening.  

She glances at the outstretched hand, and “Oh!” She quickly reaches out to shake the girl’s — _Aubrey’s_ — hand. “I’m Stacie.”  

“Pleased to meet you, Stacie,” Aubrey says with a smile.  

 

* * *

 

“Oh, god, I can’t do this,” Beca says, and she sounds breathless, looks like she’s on the verge of a panic attack.  

The girls crowd around her as she drops her hands to her knees, bent over and trying to breathe normally.  

“Come on, Beca, have some courage!” Amy says, trying to rally her into action.  

“I’m a Hufflepuff, that’s literally not in our house description,” Beca whines.  

Ashley yanks her upright, holds her up by her collar and stares straight at Beca. “You can do this.”  

“I can do this,” Beca tries to echo convincingly, but she still sounds scared, although now they’re not sure if it’s because of Ashley or the other thing.  

“Maybe wait until the Beauxbatons girl is done talking to her,” Jessica points out, and they all turn their heads to look at the two girls.  

“What if she’s asking her out? Beauxbatons girls are so pretty, look at her! She’s gorgeous! I don’t stand a chance!” Beca says, panic gripping her again.  

“Oh, that’s Aubrey,” Stacie says unhelpfully, the words slipping out on their own accord and then Ashley and Jessica are turning to Stacie with wide grins.  

Aubrey and Chloe laugh loudly together from across the hall and Beca blanches.  

“Do you need me to go brew you some liquid luck?” Stacie asks, taking pity on her friend.  

“No,” Beca says immediately, but then, “Yes?”  

“Do you have a date to the Yule Ball yet?” Amy asks Stacie, and the brunette shakes her head. “You haven't been asked?!”

“She has,” Jessica reveals.  

“She’s just turned all the invitations down,” Ashley adds.  

“I told you that in confidence,” Stacie hisses at Jessica, who shrugs in response.  

“Why would you turn down an invitation?” Beca asks hysterically, a little distracted by this information from her pending panic attack.  

Stacie shrugs, but her eyes betray her when she can’t help but look over at Aubrey.  

“You and—?” Amy exclaims, points at Aubrey and Stacie panics, quickly grabs Amy’s arm and pulls it down before they draw more attention to themselves.  

“Jesus, Amy!” Stacie hisses.  

“Is Aubrey your American girl at Beauxbatons?” Ashley asks excitedly.  

“She’s not ‘my girl’,” Stacie says, uses air quotes. “I don’t even know her that well. I’ve only talked to her like, twice.”  

“But you’re holding out to go to the Yule Ball with her,” Jessica says, extrapolating from the given information and when Stacie doesn’t immediately counter her statement, she grins.  

They’re all so focused on Stacie’s loaded silence that they don’t notice Amy break away from the group until it’s too late.  

“Hello ladies!”  

Beca, Stacie, Jessica, and Ashley all turn when they hear Amy’s boisterous voice, a voice that is no longer near them but all the way across the hall and directed at Chloe and Aubrey.  

“Hi!” Chloe says, smiling at Amy.  

“Can we help you with something?” Aubrey asks, sizing up the girl.  

“I couldn’t help but overhear your lovely voices and are those American accents I hear?”  

The two girls nod.  

“Well, then I would like to cordially invite you to the weekly meetings of the AHAs.”  

“A-ha?” Aubrey asks slowly, frowning.  

Amy turns back to look at her friends, who all make various frantic motions for Amy to stop whatever she’s doing. Ashley even has her wand out threateningly, but it doesn’t deter Amy.  

“The Association of Hogwarts’ Americans,” Amy says proudly.  

“And you are…?” Aubrey prods, trying to discern if this is a joke because Amy clearly doesn’t sound like she’s from the US. 

“Fat Amy.”  

“You call yourself Fat Amy?” Aubrey can’t help but ask, her polite demeanour dropping for a second and clearly showing her surprise.  

“Yeah, so twig bitches like you don’t say it behind my back,” Amy says, but she’s smiling widely and Chloe laughs loudly.  

“Nice to meet you, Fat Amy. I’m Chloe, and this is Aubrey.”  

“So, tomorrow at 5 o’clock at the Hufflepuff table in the Great Hall. Will I see you there?”  

“Yes!” Chloe says excitedly.  

“Absolutely,” Aubrey says with a smile and Amy nods happily before turning away and rejoining her group.  

 

* * *

 

“The AHAs?”  

Stacie sighs deeply, closes her eyes for a second in shame before opening them and looking up, meeting Aubrey’s eyes.  

“We don’t call it that,” Stacie says strongly as Aubrey sits down across from her.  

“What do you call it?” Aubrey asks and there’s a teasing, melodic lilt to her words that Stacie loves.  

“We don’t call it anything,” she says. “We just hang out sometimes.”  

Aubrey doesn’t say anything then, goes through her routine of taking out her books and lining up her pens and notepad.  

“You don’t have to come,” Stacie says softly, watching her.  

Aubrey’s head snaps up, already frowning as she meets Stacie’s gaze. “Do you not want me to come?”  

“No, it’s—” Stacie starts but then Aubrey’s frown deepens. “No, it’s not that, I mean, yes, I want you to come but Amy kinda blindsided you so like you don’t _have_ to or feel obligated to or… yeah.”  

She closes her eyes in embarrassment at how she’s stumbling over her words.  

“Will you be there?” Aubrey asks, and when Stacie opens her eyes again, Aubrey’s blushing and looking down at her blank notepad.  

“Yeah.”  

“Then I’ll be there,” Aubrey says, smiling coyly and Stacie stares at her, mouth slightly open with surprise and hope.  

Aubrey glances up at her, looks away quickly when she sees that Stacie’s staring at her. She picks up her wand and idly flicks it and suddenly there’s a book in front of Stacie, flipping open and Stacie laughs, puts her hand out to stop the rapidly turning pages and manually looking for the page herself as Aubrey starts reading.  

She’s focusing hard on some Ancient Runes homework when she hears Aubrey sigh dejectedly and toss her pen onto her notepad. It’s a surprising drop of composure in the usually perfect image the blonde presents, so Stacie looks up and arches an eyebrow. 

“Something wrong?”  

Aubrey seems startled that she’s been caught, eyes widening almost imperceptibly.  

“Just some Arithmancy,” Aubrey says, tries to brush it off but Stacie perks up.  

“Really? Do you need help?”  

“It’s Advanced Arithmancy,” Aubrey says wearily.  

“Smart house, remember?” Stacie teases, but she reaches for Aubrey’s textbook and pulls it to the middle of the table. “What are you having trouble with?”  

“Not trouble, I just can’t figure out why my answer is wrong,” Aubrey answers, pushes her notepad towards Stacie who looks it over, occasionally glancing at the open textbook.  

“Why are you taking Advanced Arithmancy?” Stacie asks casually, briefly looking at Aubrey.  

“My father insisted,” Aubrey says, doesn’t give much else.  

“What would you rather be doing?”  

“Music.”  

The words give Stacie pause, and she slowly looks up at Aubrey with a soft smile. “Instrument?”  

“Singing.”  

Stacie stares at her in awe. “You sing?”  

Aubrey nods, blushes under Stacie’s scrutiny.  

They’re both distracted by an origami swan fluttering onto Aubrey’s book. Aubrey picks it up with a smile, unfolds it before crumbling the paper in her fist. “It’s almost five o’clock. I have to go.”  

“What?” Stacie asks.  

“Well, we have to go,” Aubrey corrects. She starts haphazardly closing her books, tossing them into her clutch and it’s so unlike the previous two times she’d done it that Stacie’s taken aback by her haste. 

“How did you do that?” Stacie asks, still thinking about the origami swan as she starts putting away her own books.  

“It’s just a simple charm,” Aubrey explains with a smile, stands up and waits for Stacie to finish packing up.  

“Can you teach me?”  

“Of course.”  

 

* * *

 

“Is that Conrad I see, on time for once in her life?” Ashley calls out when they step into the Great Hall and Stacie rolls her eyes.  

“Are you always late?” Aubrey asks her, leans in close to whisper the question.  

“I tend to lose track of time when I’m at the library,” Stacie explains, voice a little thick because Aubrey’s standing so close to her and she smells _amazing_.  

“What do you usually do at these meetings?” Aubrey asks as they join the small group.  

“Nothing, really. We just hang out,” Stacie says with a shrug. She sits down next to Aubrey and points at Amy. “You’ve already met Amy and that’s Ashley.”  

Ashley smiles at Aubrey and they shake hands.  

“Nice to meet you, Aubrey,” the girl says.  

“Where’s Beca and Jessica?” Stacie asks with a small frown.  

“Jess is trying to talk Beca down from a tree,” Ashley explains and Amy’s laughing before she even finishes her sentence, already aware of the situation.  

“What?” Aubrey asks in alarm.  

“Why?” Stacie asks at the same time with a sigh. 

“Because Amy—” Ashley shoots the girl a look, “—invited Chloe.”  

“Ohh,” Stacie says with a nod, and Aubrey turns to her in question. Aubrey opens her mouth to ask something but shakes her head, not quite finding the right words so Stacie quickly explains, “Beca has a crush on Chloe.”  

Aubrey’s face lights up with surprise and amusement.  

Ashley watches their interaction closely, but she gets distracted by the new people walking into the Great Hall and her narrow-eyed focus melts into a soft smile. “Hey!” 

Jessica’s pushing Beca forwards by the shoulders, deposits her on Stacie’s free side before skipping over to the other side of the table to sit next to Ashley.  

“Hi,” Jessica says, leans in and kisses Ashley quickly before settling against the brunette, Ashley’s arm loosely wrapped around her shoulders.  

“How’s she doing?” Ashley asks, quickly glances at Beca.  

“I don’t have high hopes,” Jessica confesses.  

“Hey!” Beca protests, but it’s a token protest because she knows Jessica’s right and it makes Stacie laugh.  

“Hey Chlo!” Aubrey says loudly, maybe a little too loudly but Beca freezes, eyes going wide and Stacie softly pats her leg to calm her down.  

“Hi Bree!” the redhead says, hugging Aubrey quickly before turning to the girls. “Hi ladies. I’m Chloe!”  

They all go around and say their names, and Beca’s last, but before she can even say her name, Chloe softly says, “Bath girl.”  

Beca’s frozen, mouth open and ready to say her name but Chloe’s beaming at her and Stacie looks between the two, then at the other girls with them, all of them looking equally puzzled.  

“Beca,” the girl finally manages.  

“It’s nice to finally know your name,” Chloe says and smiles a wide, dazzling smile that leaves even Stacie a little short of breath.  

“Bath girl,” Ashley mouths soundlessly at Stacie who shrugs, shakes her head.  

“So, you two have met before?” Jessica asks pointedly when Chloe drops onto the seat next to Beca.  

Beca looks like she’s trying to impersonate a tomato, but Chloe just nods cheerily.  

“Uh-huh, we took a bath together!” Chloe says with a grin and Beca’s head snaps up.  

“What?!” Amy exclaims and it gets the attention of several other groups nearby.  

“No we didn’t,” Beca says quickly, shaking her head.  

Stacie’s distracted by Aubrey trying to contain her giggles next to her.  

“I didn’t know it was a private bath,” Chloe says.  

“I was in the prefects bathroom,” Beca almost shrieks.  

“I don’t know what that is,” Chloe supplies. “I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed in. I didn’t know she’d be weird about being naked.”  

Ashley’s face is buried in Jessica’s shoulder as she tries to contain her laughter, and Jessica’s tightly gripping her girlfriend's thigh to keep her own composure.  

Stacie has her lips between her teeth, tightly clamped down to keep from bursting out laughing, but Amy finally lets out a loud snort and they all erupt into laughter. Aubrey’s hand brushes against Stacie’s arm and Stacie’s laughing loudly as she turns to the blonde, loses her breath when she catches sight of Aubrey’s open and relaxed expression.  

Aubrey’s eyes dart down to her lips and Stacie can’t help but look down as well when Aubrey bites her lower lip.  

“I hate you guys,” Beca says, crosses her arms petulantly and Stacie breaks away from Aubrey’s intense gaze to look at the girl sitting next to her.  

“Sorry, Becs,” she says quickly, but her voice doesn’t sound convincing and Beca shoots Stacie a glare.  

When the laughter dies down, Jessica tries to steer them into a new direction. She glances between Aubrey and Chloe and asks, “How do you two know each other?”  

“We met at Ilvermorny four years ago during summer school,” Aubrey explains.  

“And we’ve been friends ever since,” Chloe tacks on with a wide smile and Aubrey shoots her a smile, nods.  

 

* * *

 

“I can’t believe Chloe’s a siren,” Stacie comments casually when they’re walking along the corridors.  

“She’s not, technically.”  

“Okay, so she’s like one-eighth siren. That’s still wild.”  

Aubrey smiles, and Stacie can’t help but poke fun at her.  

“So how about you, huh? Are you part siren?” Aubrey laughs, so Stacie presses on. “Do you have Veela blood in your family? Is your dad a selkie? Is your mom a harpy?”  

“My mom is French,” Aubrey supplies with a laugh and Stacie can’t help but giggle. 

“I guess that’s cool too,” Stacie says with a shrug, pretends to be uninterested but gives herself away by smiling.  

Aubrey rolls her eyes, nudges the girl with her shoulder playfully.  

“Do you speak French?”  

“Of course,” Aubrey says with a scoff. “Beauxbatons Academy education is part French.”  

“Can you say something in French?” Stacie asks and Aubrey hesitates, regards the girl closely.  

“Je te trouve très séduisante,” Aubrey says and Stacie feels her heart flutter. Aubrey laughs softly at Stacie’s awestruck expression, ducks her head down with a light blush.  

“Speaks French, sings, charms origami, sneaks pens into Hogwarts… Is there anything you _can’t_ do?” Stacie flirts. 

Aubrey blushes a deep red and Stacie smiles when she sees it, but then Aubrey stops walking, slips her hand into Stacie’s to stop her and make her turn to face Aubrey.  

“Find the courage to ask a Ravenclaw to the Yule Ball,” she whispers and it takes Stacie a second to get the connection and her eyes go wide with the implication.  

She can’t resist teasing the blonde, though, so with a cheeky grin she says, “Like, any Ravenclaw, or—?”  

“Stacie,” Aubrey says with a look of fond exasperation.  

“Aubrey,” Stacie says softly, looks down at where their hands are still entwined. “Would you like to go to the Yule Ball with me?”  

“I’d love to,” she answers, looks bashful and Stacie would really, really like to kiss her but then Aubrey is tugging at her hand, encouraging her to start walking again and they continue the rest of their walk in silence.  

Stacie doesn’t realise they’re still holding hands until Aubrey slips her fingers out of Stacie’s once they reach the Beauxbatons carriage and she frowns at the loss of contact.  

Aubrey steps close and Stacie holds her breath when the blonde girl leans in.  

She tries not to let her disappointment show too much when Aubrey brushes her lips against Stacie’s cheek, but she must not do a very good job of it because when she pulls away, Aubrey chuckles softly, a breathless, sweet sound.  

“Bye, Stacie.”  

She opens her mouth to respond but no sound comes out and Aubrey laughs again so Stacie lifts her hand and waves the girl away.  

 

* * *

 

“Are you going to Hogsmeade this weekend?” Stacie asks urgently, dropping into the seat opposite Ashley.  

Ashley looks up from her food, surprised that Stacie’s sitting at her table during mealtime and shakes her head. “No, why?”  

Stacie lets out a tortured sound, attracting the attention of the nearby Slytherins.  

“I need a second opinion on a dress,” Stacie explains.  

“I thought your mom already sent up a dress from London for you for the Yule Ball? 

“She did, but I need another one so she sent three to Gladrags and told me to pick one out.”  

“Why would you need another dress?”  

“Because the one she sent me is no good.”  

“No good?”  

“I don’t have time for you to be deliberately difficult, Ash! This is an emergency.”  

Ashley’s quiet for a bit, in deliberation and then she smiles smugly. “You’re taking Aubrey to the Yule Ball.”  

“Yes.”  

“And the dress you have isn’t good enough because you want to impress the cute girl from Beauxbatons?”  

“… yes.”  

Stacie looks sufficiently uncomfortable, so Ashley drops her self-satisfied façade and smiles reassuringly at Stacie. “Let me make sure Jess is up for it but we’ll go with you to Hogsmeade.”  

Stacie beams with excitement, “thank you thank you thank you!” falling repeatedly from her lips and she lifts her wand, swishes it in a circle and mumbles “iris halysis.”  

A bright white halo appears above Ashley’s head and the girl looks up and laughs when she sees it. “Cheeseball,” she says with an eye roll but she can’t stop smiling so Stacie grins at her before getting up and leaving her to her dinner.  

 

* * *

 

“Are you nervous?”  

Stacie jumps about a foot in the air at the voice, softly whispered into her ear from behind her and she opens her mouth to refute the statement when she gets a good look at Aubrey and the only sound that comes out of her mouth is a strangled gasp. 

It’s odd to see Aubrey in something that isn’t pale blue, but the long-sleeved, full length burgundy dress doesn’t disappoint in the least, and Stacie briefly forgets everything around them and what is considered polite as she stares at Aubrey unabashedly.  

“I—wow,” she breathes.  

In her distracted state, she doesn’t notice Aubrey’s breath hitch as her eyes land on Stacie, taking in the floral-patterned dress that’s cut low enough to offer a tantalising view that Aubrey can’t tear her eyes away from.  

“Yeah, you too,” Aubrey breathes, but she’s not looking at Stacie’s eyes when she says the words and when she bites her lip, Stacie laughs awkwardly.  

“If we see Professor McGonagall, we have to run,” Stacie says quickly and Aubrey tears her eyes away from the cleavage on display to meet Stacie’s eyes.  

“Why?”  

“This dress isn’t exactly Hogwarts-sanctioned,” Stacie explains.  

“I can see why,” Aubrey says, eyes darting down and back up.  

“Yeah, well, I didn’t know when we were gonna get to see each other out of uniform again so I figured I might as well pull out all the stops now. Can’t have you thinking I’m a dud underneath those Ravenclaw robes,” Stacie says with a wink and Aubrey smiles, shakes her head in fond exasperation.  

“Shall we?” Aubrey asks, gestures towards the Great Hall.  

“Yes,” Stacie says with a smile, boldly slides her hand around Aubrey to rest her palm against the girl’s back, stuttering to a halt when she encounters bare skin. “Wait.”  

“What?” Aubrey asks, looks over at Stacie.  

Stacie gently encourages Aubrey to turn and that’s when she sees that Aubrey’s dress, modest in the front with long sleeves and a high neckline, is completely backless.  

“Holy shit,” she breathes, eyes trailing slowly over the pale skin and she can’t help but reach out and ghost her fingers across Aubrey’s back.  

Aubrey shivers and Stacie freezes, realises how brazen her touch had been so she pulls back her hand.  

“We should go,” Stacie croaks out and Aubrey nods, slips her hand into Stacie’s and tugging her along.  

 

* * *

 

“Oh wow, you guys look great!” Jessica says when Aubrey and Stacie join them.  

“Look at you,” Stacie compliments. “With your adorable house-matching dresses,” she teases.  

Ashley rolls her eyes but Jessica preens.  

Before Stacie can even ask about the rest of the group, Jessica volunteers the information.  

“Amy’s running late because she snagged a last-minute invite from a Durmstrang boy and Beca has to wait outside until the dance.”  

“I completely forgot about that,” Stacie says with a laugh.  

“Dance?” Aubrey asks, leaning into Stacie.  

“The Triwizard Champions open the dancefloor or whatever; the three Champions dance with their dates first, and then the rest join in.”  

“Chloe and Beca have to dance in front of a crowd,” Ashley supplies with a giddy grin but Jessica pokes her side.  

“She’s really nervous,” Jessica chides gently and Ashley pouts petulantly.  

“Were you not around for the last Triwizard Tournament?” Stacie asks, turns to Aubrey.  

“No,” the blonde says, shaking her head. “I was at Castelobruxo on exchange.”  

“You were like twelve,” Stacie points out in alarm and Aubrey nods.  

“Dad’s wishes,” she explains simply, and then her gaze flits to something over Stacie’s shoulder. “Do you mind if I go say hi to some classmates?”  

“Do you want me to go with you?” Stacie asks, twists her body to look at the group of Beauxbatons girls standing together.  

Aubrey shakes her head, “They’ll insist on speaking French and I don’t want you to feel left out.”  

“I’ll be right here,” Stacie says with a soft smile, blushing slightly when Aubrey leans in and kisses her cheek.  

“Be right back,” she says and walks away with a smile, Stacie following her with her eyes.  

“Merlin, where is the rest of that dress?” Ashley comments and it snaps Stacie out of her daze as she looks at Ashley with a smug grin.  

Jessica’s looking at her with an arched eyebrow and Ashley’s eyes go wide.  

“Come on, babe, look at that dress!” Ashley tries to justify but Jessica shakes her head in wry humour. “I love your dress more?”  

“That’s more like it,” Jessica says firmly and Ashley leans in to kiss her quickly.  

 

* * *

 

“Are you going to kiss me?”  

The words give Stacie pause, eyes widening as her gaze darts back up to meet Aubrey’s eyes.  

“I mean, I was going to until you said that.”  

“Sorry, I made it weird, carry on,” Aubrey says quickly, trails her fingers across Stacie’s shoulder but their bubble’s been burst.  

Stacie’s hands twitch where they’re holding Aubrey’s waist, and she looks over Aubrey’s shoulder at the entrance to the Great Hall.  

“Do you want to go somewhere?” she asks.  

Aubrey bites her lip, nods, pulls her arms down from where they’re looped around Stacie’s neck and Stacie lets Aubrey take her hand, tangle their fingers.  

“Come on,” Stacie whispers, leads Aubrey from the dancefloor and out of the Hall, up the maze of stairs to the seventh floor.  

“Where are we going?”  

“You’ll see,” Stacie says with a reassuring smile. They’re turning down a corridor when Stacie stops, urges Aubrey to stay where she is. “Wait here.”  

Aubrey watches as Stacie walks down the left corridor slowly, muttering under her breath. When Stacie turns and walks back, Aubrey opens her mouth to ask her what she’s doing when Stacie holds up her hand and shakes her head.  

Aubrey frowns in confusion, but lets it go, turning to the moving tapestry of a man and some trolls, scrutinises it closely with a smile.  

“Okay, let’s go,” Stacie finally says and when Aubrey turns, Stacie’s standing by a door that Aubrey could have sworn wasn’t there before.  

Aubrey slips her hand into Stacie’s, lets herself be led into the room and when she steps in she’s greeted by the cozy interior of a cabin in the woods. Stacie lets go of her hand to grab a blanket and throw it over her shoulders.  

“I can’t exactly make it warm because we are in the Highlands, after all,” Stacie says with a soft, awkward chuckle, growing quiet when Aubrey still doesn’t say anything.  

She walks further into the room, trailing her hand across a rustic table and then the plush leather couch in disbelief, before turning to Stacie.  

“What is this place?”  

“It’s called the Room of Requirement,” Stacie explains, shifts awkwardly on her feet. “Some people call it the come and go room.”  

Aubrey turns to her with sly grin then, arches an eyebrow as her gaze trails lazily down Stacie’s body.  

“Not—not like that!” Stacie says, “Well, sometimes like that, but it’s a room that gives you what you require, if you know how to ask for it.”  

“How did you know to ask for this?” Aubrey whispers reverently, walking back over to Stacie. 

"My dad is a curse breaker for the Ministry and he knows exactly how to trick the Room of Requirement so I asked him for help and it was a little awkward when I told him why I needed his help but then he—” 

“Stacie!”  Aubrey interrupts, smiling softly at Stacie's rambling words. “I meant, how did you know how to ask specifically for this.” 

She gestures around the very specific room and Stacie smiles in understanding

“Chloe told me you miss your grandparents’ cottage in the woods, so…” 

“This is…” Aubrey looks away, voice low. “Nobody’s ever done anything like this for me before.”  

Stacie shrugs, tries to make it seem like it’s not a big deal even though her heart is pounding hard in her chest, and she’s flush with warmth at the way Aubrey’s looking at her. 

“How does this room work?”  

“What do you mean?”  

“Will we be interrupted?”  

Aubrey’s smiling softly when Stacie looks at her, but the blonde’s eyes are twinkling with mischief and Stacie tries to swallow down the thickness in her throat.  

“No.”  

“Are you sure?”  

“I specifically asked, so yes, I’m sure.”  

“Come and go room, huh?” Aubrey asks, steps closer to Stacie.  

Stacie opens her mouth to respond when Aubrey takes advantage of the situation, leaning in and kissing her, hand curling around Stacie’s neck.  

She wraps her arm around Aubrey, pulls her closer as she returns the kiss, lets her nails rake over Aubrey’s bare back when the blonde bites down on her lower lip. Aubrey whines when Stacie reaches up and starts pulling out bobby pins one by one from her hair, fingers getting tangled in blonde hair, and Aubrey breaks away with a sharp gasp when Stacie tugs a little too hard.  

“Sorry,” Stacie says quickly, kissing Aubrey’s cheek in apology.  

“No, it’s—” She doesn’t finish her sentence, pulls out her wand from one of the creases in the skirt of her dress and with a quick flick all the bobby pins holding her hair up slowly start dropping into her open palm.  

She smiles as she shakes the bobby pins into the pouch where her wand had been, tucking her wand back as well and Stacie’s staring at her in wonder.  

“What?” Aubrey asks, becoming a little self conscious with the way Stacie is staring at her.  

“You’re amazing,” Stacie breathes, watching as Aubrey’s hair falls from its updo now that it has no support, blonde hair tumbling down and framing Aubrey’s face, making her look unkempt.  

“Couch?” Aubrey says, smiling coyly at Stacie.  

“Yes,” Stacie answers, lets herself be led over to and pushed down onto the couch.  

This time when Aubrey leans in to kiss her, Stacie is ready and kisses her back just as firmly.  

 

* * *

 

“You know, I gave you the pen so you would use it.” 

She doesn’t startle at the voice, twists in her seat to see Aubrey standing over her with a soft smile. Her hair is back up in a complicated French braid, she’s dressed in her perfect blue uniform, and Stacie can’t help but return the coy smile.  

“Hi,” Stacie says, and Aubrey glances around the library quickly before leaning down and kissing Stacie.  

Stacie’s about to deepen the kiss when a throat is cleared behind them and Aubrey springs away.  

“The library is for studying, ladies.”  

“Sorry, Madam Pince,” Stacie says, sufficiently chastised and Aubrey’s blushing when she sits down in the chair opposite Stacie.  

Aubrey’s unpacking her books as usual, pulling out her pens and when she puts down her notepad, an origami butterfly lands on her paper. She looks up at Stacie, but the girl is studiously looking down at her book, quill in hand and Aubrey can’t suppress her smile. She picks up the butterfly and unfolds it, smiles widely when she reads the words scribbled there in pen ink.  

Stacie has been reading the same line over and over again, waiting, anticipation killing her, when something in her periphery catches her eye. She looks at the origami turtle shuffling over to her side of the table.  

She looks up but now Aubrey’s the one avoiding as she stares down at her Magical Theory book.  

The turtle stops right at the edge of Stacie’s book and she picks it up, is loathe to unfold the cute animal but eager to read what’s inside.  

She barely glances at the words she’s written herself before grinning widely when she reads the single word that Aubrey had added to the end.  

_Will you be my girlfriend?_

_Yes._

**Author's Note:**

> leave me love~  
> find me on tumblr [here](http://aserenitatum.tumblr.com/)


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